Graham Pizzey

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“The late {{w|Keith Alfred Hindwood|Keith Hindwood}}, a Sydney printer and skilled and deservedly respected ornithologist, considered the {{w|red wattlebird}} to breed rarely in {{w|Sydney}} in his early days (born in 1904, he died in 1971). But in later years he recorded that some birds were always present and breeding. It seems likely that, in part at least, this change reflected the planting of flowering trees and shrubs in Sydney gardens.”

“The lawyer-ornithologist {{w|Norman Joseph Favaloro|Norman Favaloro}} tells of removing a {{w|house sparrow}}'s nest from a 'well-formed hollow' in a {{w|eucalyptus}} in the {{w|Melbourne}} outer suburbs of {{w|Mitcham, Victoria|Mitcham}} ... Two weeks later he cleared out a {{w|starling}}'s nest from the hollow. Three weeks later he flushed a {{w|kookaburra}} from a clutch of three eggs in the same hollow.Clearly the starling is causing losses among native birds ...”

“Watching bouncing, tinkling flocks of {{w|European goldfinch|goldfinch}}es feeding on thistles at {{w|Phillip Island}} once, the American ornithologist Dr {{w|Roger Tory Peterson}} guessed he had seen more goldfinches there than even in Europe.”

“An extraordinary diversity of {{w|marsupial}}, {{w|monotreme}}, bird and {{w|reptile}} fauna had developed from {{w|Gondwana}}n ancestors. Small, sharp-fanged marsupial 'lions'; cow-sized browsing {{w|diprotodon}}s; giant kangaroos, even a kangaroo thought by its dentition to have been carnivorous; and huge, 3-metre flightless birds were all present.”

“From time to time I get a query about an unusual waterhen people have seen. It's usually described as dark, with red legs — and a cocked tail that makes it look 'like a little {{w|Bantam (poultry)|bantam}}'. Some say they have seen it far from water. Most agree that 'it runs like hell'. Over the years I've had more technical enquiries, but there's not the slightest doubt the bird in question in this case is that peculiarly Australian creation, the black-tailed native-hen ({{w|Black-tailed nativehen|Tribonyx ventralis}}), a species of small {{w|Rail (bird)|rail}}.”

“One of Australia's least savoury wildlife episodes was the long slaughter of {{w|koala}}s for their fur, which continued in some States to the end of the 1920's. In 1924 over 2 million koala pelts were exported, many under the pseudonym of '{{w|wombat}}' to avoid the odium of publicity.”